Chapter 23

Beka took a couple of steps to her left to get out from between Burma and the man who had led the attack on the miners, just in case Burma decided to shoot his subordinate or vice versa. Both men looked angry enough to kill the other.

Earlier that day Burma had invited her into the command room in north-sides corporate headquarters so she could listen in on his glorious victory. She had listened to him as he gave orders that Rhade and his family were to be taken alive at all costs. His descriptions of what he would do to them after they were captured would have turned the stomach of a Nietzschean inquisitor. However, instead of a victory celebration she got a front row seat at a military debacle. As the battle progressed and it became apparent that Burma's battle plan was a disastrous failure, the general's mood had swung from exultation at the thought of his success to incoherent raging. At times he had literally been foaming at the mouth. When the survivors of the attack returned Burma had demanded that their commanding officer be brought to him. He had been screaming obscenities and threats when he had issued the orders

"What happened, Murcheson?" snapped Burma as the man entered the bunker accompanied by a younger man Beka assumed was either his aide or his second in command. Beka didn't recognize the men, but she recognized their uniforms. They were part of the group of soldiers she had flown in to supplement Burma's troops. The men were being escorted by three of Burma's thugs and looked as much prisoners as solders reporting to a superior officer. It was only the presence of the pistol worn at Murcheson's side that made Beka think that Burma hadn't ordered the man arrested, yet. "The prefecture governor assured me that you and your men were one of his best units. How could a rag tag bunch of farmers and miners with no military experience defeat you. Especially when you had my troops to support you."

"What happened General," said Murcheson "Is that your men are cowards, and the intelligence you provided on the defenders was a piece of fiction."

The expression on Burma's face became even angrier. His hand actually moved towards the pistol on his belt. The other man looked just as angry. He also looked as if he had been on the losing side of a battle. He was covered in dirt and sweat, His uniform was ripped and there were what looked like dried blood stains on some parts of it. His left hand was heavily bandaged and the arm itself was strapped to his side. His companion looked slightly better in the sense that his left arm was undamaged.

"Explain," demanded Burma.

The man Burma called Murcheson took a deep breath, let it out then began to talk. "As per your orders we launched our main attack on their center position bypassing their positions in the mines. We advanced through the pass meeting no significant opposition. I had the formation halt approximately 6,000 meters from the umwa defensive lines and ordered the Serpent to commence firing using Emm Oh rounds."

"Emm Oh rounds?" asked Beka. "What are those?"

"Gas rounds," replied Murcheson. "The gas is a combination choking and blister agent. It's nasty stuff. If you're not wearing breathing protection the choking agent will kill you. If you are the blister agent will still get you. The gas causes severe burns and blisters almost immediately upon contact with exposed skin. It's even more virulent where the skin is damp, like eyes, groin, and lungs. Ordinary clothing doesn't give you any protection at all from the gas. It's also extremely persistent. If you're exposed to the stuff you have to be decontaminated before you can be treated."

"Gas?" said Beka accusingly as she glared at Burma. "You didn't tell me I'd be shipping poison gas. You told me I was bringing in personal protective gear."

"You were," answered Burma completely unmoved by Beka's outrage. "Gas protection gear. I just didn't tell you what else you were bringing in." He turned his attention back to Murcheson "Continue Major."

"We fired two dozen rounds of Emm Oh at the forward positions forcing the defenders to evacuate their positions. With the defenders out in the open I had the Serpent switch from firing Emm Oh to HEAP and flechette rounds. It got off three salvos before it was knocked out by anti-armour missile fire from a launcher concealed in the hills Counter battery fire from the Guardians and the Striker destroyed the launcher, but not before it knocked out one of our Guardians.

"W cleared the anti vehicle obstacles and secured the abandoned defensive line while under sporadic small arms fire from the hills. It took us over an hour to clear the area as the anti vehicle obstacles were protected by improvised anti personnel and anti vehicle mines. .Once the area was cleared I ordered the column to advance on the enemy's secondary defense line. However, instead of advancing in good order, as soon as we had secured the area your troops took off like a pack of akumas after a crippled yevi. And ran into a tokiget nest in the form of a mine field and heavy small arm fire. We advanced to relieve them still under sporadic small arms fire until we reached the narrowest part of the pass where your men were pinned down. That's when the trap was sprung.

"Your intelligence estimates were that the opposition had approximately 250 combatants total, about half of which were assumed to be guarding the mines, and no heavy weaponry other than that which had been captured from your forces in the early stages of the fighting. Those estimates were totally in error. They must have had at least twice that many waiting for us, well dug in, concealed, and equipped with additional heavy weaponry that had held its fire until we arrived on scene. They hit us from the front, flanks, and rear. Entrenched heavy weapons with overlapping fields of fire, mines, positional advantage, it was a flawlessly designed kill zone and we were in the middle of it. They took out the Guardians and the Striker in the first few moments of the action. Most of the troops embarked in the Guardians never had a chance to dismount before they were killed. Then we began receiving mortar fire from from several points. That's when your troops, and I use the term troops loosely, broke and ran, turning a disaster into a complete catastrophe."

"Harper, you magnificent bastard," said Beka admiringly, "this setup has your fingerprints all over it.

Burma turned on Beka."What do you know about this?" he demanded.

"The barkeep umwa organizer. His name is Harper, and he's probably the best engineer on this planet, if not in the entire system. He was supposed to be helping design an evacuation site for the umwa members families. Apparently he was working on something else. He's a genius when it comes to improvised weaponry. He could probably turn a drinking straw into an anti-tank weapon. He had several him months to to oversee the construction of the umwa defenses." She gave Murcheson an appraising look. "You're lucky to still be alive."

The look on Burma's face changed from rage to suspicion. "Yes, Major. How did you escape if the trap was so flawlessly designed? Especially in the light of the fact than none of my men survived."

If Murcheson had looked angry before, he now looked positively murderous He took a step towards Burma only to be stopped by his companion.. "We didn't escape General." The way he said general made the word sound like an insult. "Over forty percent of my unit is either dead or so severely wounded they are unfit for any sort of combat. We were allowed to escape.

"When your men broke the umwa concentrated their fire almost solely on them. When their bodies finished twitching they stopped shooting at us and we were hailed over a loudspeaker. We were told that if we laid down our weapons and ammunition we could gather up our dead and wounded and depart. We didn't have to be told twice."

Murcheson made a visible effort to get his emotions under control then continued his report. "If you had released your gyrocopters to us as I requested we could have used them to suppress the enemy mortar fire. It would have given us a chance to retreat in good order rather than butchered like a yevi in a slaughterhouse."

"The gyrocopters," said Burma "were needed here to help my men keep south-side under control. If I had let you have them you might have escaped one ambush only to run into another. Now what is your assessment of the umwa capabilities. What size force would be required to force its way into the farmlands on the other side of the Divide."

Murcheson shook his head 'no' "Not a chance. With the weapons they captured and the positional advantage they hold, it would take at least a regiment strength unit to force the pass. And they would get mauled in the process. Short of a massive air strike, your only realistic chance to take the pass is an air drop behind their defensive positions.

A thoughtful look replaced the angry look on Burma's face. "That might take a considerable length of time to arrange, and time is not my ally right now. Unless.." He turned to look at Beka.

"No!" exclaimed Beka vehemently. "I'm not going to let you use the Maru as a troop transport. I gave you enough help when I transported your poison gas. You can find your own transports."

"That's ... unfortunate," said Burma. "I was hoping you would be reasonable. Well, we'll just have to take another tack. " He turned to one of his aides. "Contact Colonel Schelling. . Tell him to send out security teams into south-side. Tell him I want the entire cesspool burned to the ground. He's to kill anyone that resists. Show them that their sheriff can't protect them. We'll see how Rhade reacts when the refugees start streaming in his direction."

Beka began to move cautiously towards the room's exit. It was obvious to her that Burma wasn't just a thug, he was a madman She wanted to be far away before he decided that she was an ally of Rhade.

"Is that all General?" asked Murcheson.. From the look on his face Beka wasn't the only one who thought they were dealing with a madman. "I need to get back to my men."

"You're dismissed Major," said Burma.

The Major didn't bother to salute. He and his aide simply turned their backs on Burma and began walking towards the room's exit. As they turned away Burma raised up his right hand, his hand held as if he was shooting a handgun. A small pistol slid out from under the sleeve of his coat and into his hand. There were a pair of soft, barely addible pops, as he shot both Murcheson and his aide in the back of their heads.

Burma looked down dispassionately at the bodies lying face down on the floor. "I have no use for failures," he said to a shocked Beka as the weapon slid back under the sleeve of his jacket. "Now about your vessel..."

Beka didn't wait for Burma to finish. One of the General's assistants was standing near her. She took a quick step to put him between her and Burma then shoved him into Burma. The two men collided and Beka was out the door before they could disentangle themselves.

Beka made it out into the headquarters parking lot. Burma's personal car was there along with his driver who came to attention when he saw Beka. He was the same one who had met her when she first met Burma.

"The General has an urgent mission for me," she told him. "Get me to my vessel immediately."

"I don't have any orders about that, " complained the policeman. He reached for the two-way on his belt. "I'll need to..."

Beka didn't listen to any further. Her hand lashed out catching the man in the throat. She felt something crunch under her fist.. While the company policeman was struggling to breathe Beka got into the car and started the ignition.

Fortunately for their health there were no guards at the Maru. Burma had bragged about how well armoured his vehicle was. Beka had been planning to simply run down any guards that were between her and the Maru

As soon has she was safely in the air and out of range of any company weaponry. She activated the Maru's radio.

"Dylan, this is Beka. We need to talk."

A/N - I'd like to give a belated thank yu to HEW for her help on the previous chapter.